This third edition of Marie Clay's highly-valued An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement presents her familiar assessment tasks designed for systematic observation of young children as they learn to read and write. Always respecting the author's intention, the editors have taken a fresh look at the way the book's message is communicated to teachers. Layout and expression have been refreshed to ensure clear understanding, and the administration and interpretation of each task in the survey have been carefully structured for consistent delivery.

The observation procedures arose from a theory of how children learn to manage the complex task of reading and writing continuous text. That process is described in Marie Clay's books Becoming Literate: the Construction of Inner Control; Change Over Time in Children's Literacy Development, and By Different Paths to Common Outcomes. The intervention described in Literacy Lessons Designed for Individuals makes use of these observation procedures.

This book will continue to be an invaluable resource for early literacy assessment for many years.